Relative Dimension 04: Redemption
by MartyCessna
Summary: The time has come for Cara and the Doctor to face the past once again. But which side will prevail? Part Two of the conclusion to the Cara's past story arc.
1. Chapter 1

"Here we are," the Doctor turned to Dodi, "better grab hold of something. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

But it wasn't. The TARDIS sailed through the time lock as if it hadn't a care in the universe.

"What?" the Doctor gasped, knowing full well that his ship should have crashed violently against the lock, "it's like, like the lock isn't even there!" He glanced at his instruments and paled. Dodi, careful not to touch anything, walked over, but as always, the spinning circles and blinking lines on the screen meant nothing to her. She didn't have to wait long to find out what was wrong, however.

"Something else came through before us," the Doctor gulped, "Cara's TARDIS wouldn't have left that big of a hole on it's own. Some other ship…"

"Are we too late?" Dodi asked quietly.

The Doctor didn't answer, but he did make several strange expressions at his controls. He brought the TARDIS to a stop just as Gallifrey died for the umpteenth time.

Dodi noticed the wheels on the screen stop, reverse themselves, and start over. Some of the circles whizzed around, but some stayed the same.

"Doctor?"

Voices came through static on the TARDIS speakers.

"…to all TARDISes, this is Gallifrey, do you read us? We are under heavy attack, please resp-aaaaaa!"

"Doctor?" Dodi exclaimed in alarm. The Doctor was staring straight ahead, horror struck, a deep sadness filling his eyes.

"Doctor!"

"What?" the Doctor yelled.

"What's that!"

Cara glared as her TARDIS cables glowed red. She dove to the gel box, but switched it to missile control. One of the panels on her TARDIS exterior slid open, revealing a launcher. The Daleks' weapons impacted harmlessly against her shielding, and she could almost hear the surprise in their repeated command, "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"

"Not if I exterminate you first!" Cara fired.

The missile reached its target, leaving them reeling for a moment while Cara switched back to manual control and piloted her ship farther from Gallifrey and the Dalek fleet. She noted that without her TARDIS' generators, time had once again frozen into a locked position. The tape was on pause. The Dalek fleet had just begun to arrive in the system and was now stopped mid-flight. The ship that had fired on her, however, was definitely moving and in pursuit.

"Great, come after the flying white brick." Cara grumbled, "How I wish we could duck into the Vortex for a second and come back with rockets the size of suns." She reinitiated the wall projections and set it to show the immediate area, plus readouts of systems statuses. Taking it all in at a glance, she punched another button, throwing her TARDIS into full battle-mode.

Or so she thought.

"!" said the TARDIS.

"Uh oh," said Cara. She immediately began following the trail of cables and wiring across her console with one hand. Her fingers came up with one small fiber optic cable, frayed beyond repair, the broken ends glowing orange like embers of a dying fire.

Cara hissed in frustration. She grabbed hold of her console as the Daleks began hammering her TARDIS with their weapons. All of the cables turned bright red and flashed as sparks flew from her console. The Daleks knew right where to aim.

"Oh, no you don't, I just got this thing back!" Cara whipped her ship around and gave it a burst of speed, strafing the Daleks. As she headed back toward Gallifrey, more Dalek ships began appearing from the past. Cara spun around again and headed back toward the non-frozen Daleks, determination burning in her eyes.

The Dalek ship faced her, its smooth surface almost glowing copper in the starlight. It didn't look like any ship Cara had ever seen, but there was something about the way it moved. Something cold, sinister, and calculated lurked beneath the smooth, delta-shaped dome. As it slowed to a stop in front of her and its weapons powered back up, Cara reached toward it, scanning it with her mind.

She could see only about seven Daleks on board, one seriously injured, though whether this was by her or not, she could not tell. They were not nearly as irritated as they ought to be. In fact, they seemed to be barely interested in her, merely toying with her while they waited. Waited for what?

Cara began a barrage of all available weapons, hoping to disable the Daleks before they caused any more trouble. She maneuvered her ship around the outside of the Daleks' hull, looking for vulnerable spots. It didn't seem to have any. She dropped chroniton mines and plasmic interphasing disruptor grenades. The Daleks didn't flinch, though parts of the hull were red-hot and phasing. Then too late, Cara saw why.

A wave of distortions blew toward Cara's TARDIS, too quickly. She tried to move out of the way, but was caught in the blast. End over end, she tumbled, still firing, various systems and lights blinking off until the entire TARDIS was dark inside, lit only by the projections on the walls. Cara stared in horror at the totally disabled console and realized that she had lost all ability to steer. The Dalek ship moved now, closer to her, as if it was a child inspecting an ant that it had just toasted with a magnifying glass.

Cara was already on her knees, head halfway inside her console, trying to coax life back into the machine. "Come on, baby, one more time, just for me…" She made a few hasty re-wirings, to no avail. Her TARDIS could self-heal most of the wounds inflicted, but not nearly quickly enough. Frustrated, she pulled herself back out of the console just in time to see the Daleks swing around for the killing blow. She jabbed the firing controls repeatedly, knowing that nothing would happen. The Dalek ship started glowing again.

Cara grabbed the microphone, "Hey canheads! You've got a lot of nerve attacking me. You must really have no idea what I've got on board."

The Dalek ship seemed to hang in space.

"That's right," Cara continued, "ever heard of an infinite improbability drive? Well I've got one, and it'll scatter your very molecules across time and space."

"YOUR WORDS MEAN NOTHING TIME LORD." The Daleks weren't buying it. They continued to power up for another blast.

"Well, I guess you're not as 'soo-peer-ee-orre' as you think you are," Cara's voice dropped mockingly, "because I was speaking quite plainly."

"THE DALEKS ARRRRE SU-PE-RI-OR!" the Daleks yelled, "THE TIME LORDS WILL SUBMIT OR DIIIIE!"

"Go exterminate yourself," Cara grunted, punching her console buttons furiously. But it was no use. There was one thing left to do. Her mind roamed, reaching toward the Daleks, searching. She blinked, finding a wall. Something interfering. Something from within herself. She tried to push past it, but couldn't.

The wave of energy was almost to a climax.

Cara slid to sit next to her console, pieces of her ship in her hands, Gallifrey in perpetual distress on her walls, and realization in her eyes. "So long, Number Seven."


	2. Chapter 2

"THE LAST TIME LORDS MUST BE EX-TER-MIN-ATED!" the Dalek commander cried victoriously as he watched the lone TARDIS' polished white walls flicker, "STAR-TING WITH THIS ONE! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"

The other Daleks prepared to do just that, but never got the chance. The entire ship began to shiver, its swirling diamond-shaped screens shutting off one by one.

"WHAT IS HAP-PEN-ING!" the Dalek commander demanded.

"A-NOTHER TARRRRDIS HAS ARRRRIVED!" one Dalek shrieked, sliding sideways heavily against a wall. The others scraped and slid across the floor toward him as the ship tilted awkwardly.

Cara blinked at the floor of her ship. She was still here. Her life had not ended in any way. She looked up, surprised, and saw a blue police box hovering between her and the Dalek ship. All around it, puffs of blue and purple gasses seemed to come from nowhere, creating a beautiful and effective veil protecting Cara from the Daleks. She could see the Dalek ship flicker and tilt, and could sense the surprise of the inhabitants.

Once again, Cara tried to focus on the gelatin-like minds of her enemies, sending back to them their own command. _Exterminate! _This time she wasn't stopped.The word was a cutting laser, slicing through the vacuum of space, aimed at each armor-plated creature in turn. The seven streams of consternated thought ceased abruptly, and the ship drifted. Letting her eyes close, Cara took a deep breath and released it slowly, wondering why she felt so drained. Confusion twisted in her gut, but she pushed it away. The Mission was all that mattered.

"What happened?" Dodi cried when the barrage of weapons fire had stopped, "did we win?"

"They stopped," the Doctor's brow furrowed, "Both of them."

"What are they?"

"Well, one of them is Cara, and I'd bet it's the one we just rescued."

"And the others?"

The Doctor paused, "I'm not sure. That technology is beyond the ships of this period, even with all the wibbly wobbly going on."

"Someone from the future?" Dodi looked excited, "maybe that's who came through the hole before us! But who is inside? And why did they want to kill Cara? And why did they stop?"

The Doctor just worked several controls on his console, establishing a communications link with Cara's TARDIS.

"Cara, this is the Doctor. Are you all right?" he asked.

"Fine, thanks for dropping by, " came the scratchy reply, "the Daleks weren't expecting you."

The Doctor answered, "how long do you think it'll take you to repair your TARDIS?"

"Quite a while, from where I'm standing," Cara's voice sounded somewhat amused, "but don't worry, she'll be okay. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. Goodbye, Doctor. By the way, boiled Dalek really reeks."

"What?" The Doctor blinked, "she's in the other ship. How did she get to the other ship?"

"What's she doing over there?" Dodi asked, feeling foolish for asking so many questions.

"She's…she's heading for Gallifrey!"

Cara smiled, pleased with herself for having stashed a miniature teleport in one of her TARDIS' cupboards. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of cooked Dalek and frowned at the carnage piled against one wall. There was too much goo leaking everywhere to tell where one Dalek ended and another began. However, flying a ship full of stinky dead Daleks was far better than being a ship full of live ones.

The workings of the ship were alien to her, but she managed to find a throttle and basic steering device among the controls. The delta-shaped ship hummed and smoothly darted forward, with the orange ball of Gallifrey directly ahead.

"Cara, you've got to stop this," the Doctor's voice continued to plead, "I know you think that what you're doing is right, but it isn't. You're being manipulated by people who have been dead for years. People who took advantage of you. They hurt you, Cara, but I want to help. It's not too late."

"This isn't about me, Doctor," Cara snapped, "it's bigger than me. It's bigger than any of us. You don't understand, how could you? But you will. Everyone will."

"Cara, please don't make…"

Cara shut off the comm. and started descending into Gallifrey's atmosphere, reaching with her mind to find a single speck on the surface.

The Doctor saw the dropped signal and banged on his TARDIS speaker with his fist, "Come back!"

"If her ship is disabled," Dodi reasoned quietly, "the machine you mentioned might be, as well."

"Yes," the Doctor nodded bleakly, already having thought that out, "which is why she's going to Gallifrey. She's going to find the machine from this time. The one that what was left of the Infinity Syndicate had just finished."

"Which was where?" Dodi asked, "could we get there first?"

"It was…" The Doctor thought, then leapt into action, "better hang on, I'm going to try to make a vortex hop, and in the middle of a time locked area, this could be a very bad idea. Best case scenario, we land with concussions and possibly missing body parts." He looked at her apologetically, "but it's the only way to get there ahead of her."

"Wait, what's the worst-case scenario?" Dodi asked nervously, stopping one of the Doctor's hands.

"Hmm?" the Doctor looked up, "oh, we could be flattened into a stream of particles a millionth the thickness of tissue paper and scattered across time."

"Oh," Dodi sat weakly on the TARDIS bench and was finally quiet.

"Here we go," the Doctor's finger hovered over the button, "Alonz-y!"


	3. Chapter 3

In the short flight through Gallifrey's atmosphere, Cara had figured out most of the basic flight controls. She had not, however, figured out what or where the landing sequence was, and the ground was rapidly approaching.

"Crowns and wings of Hades," Cara gritted her teeth and tried to bring the ship down in as controlled a manner as possible. The real trick would be crash-landing safely and without overshooting her target. Her train of thought led to multiple calculations of speed and trajectory, none of which were helpful without instruments. She was just going to have to wing it.

Something on the controls flashed red, and Cara guessed it was some kind of proximity alarm letting her know that she was about to crash. She could hear atmosphere rushing past the hull. It was the worst possible moment for another memory-vision to hit, so hit it did.

"_Come on, it's always outside."_

_The Doctor followed her to the secret tree. It was so cliché, so very obvious, that no one had suspected the hiding place. The spot had been Cara's suggestion, but the others had agreed. Little did they realize they were handing the machine, the very future of Gallifrey, to the maddest of them all. From the beginning, he had been loath to let the machine out of his sight. Cara had noticed this long ago. It suited her purposes just fine._

Cara opened her eyes to find that miraculously, she had landed. The ship's panels were dark. In the corner, Daleks oozed. The sound of groaning metal seemed distant as unfiltered planetary glow ventured into the ship through cracks in the hull. But nowhere could Cara see a door. At least, not until she looked up.

A hatch above her was partially sprung open, but it loomed about five feet above her head. Too far to jump. However…

Her gaze landed on the slimy Dalek casings. She grinned. Moments later, she balanced atop one of the Daleks, her arms raised above her. She leapt toward the hatch and grabbed it easily, swinging her feet up to her hands. Cara pushed the hatch the rest of the way open and crawled onto the curved, smooth, coppery surface of the ship. From this vantage point, she could survey the immediate area, and in fact, most of the rest of the local hillside. Not far off, a tree stood alone. A tree, but not a tree. And also…someone else was there.

Cara's eyes darted to a hazy area in her mind. It cleared, and she saw the blue box sitting quietly on a hill near the tree. The Doctor again. A shadow of the scene moved, showing the door opening and a phantom image of the Doctor and a woman moving out of it. The woman darted ahead, leading the Doctor toward the tree. Cara knew the woman, for she had once thought in the same pattern. It was her sixth self. But the phantom image was overlaying something else. A different time, a different Doctor, a different woman. Cara's eyes crossed and she shook her head quickly, her hair coming further loose from the tight bun she'd been sporting. It was as if she was watching the same scene played different ways, and she could see both at the same time.

The woman stopped and turned to glance over the landscape. Her mouth dropped open in recognition at the same time that it closed in confusion. She turned and left, but she stayed and stared. The Doctor moved carefully behind her, staying within his own phantom much more neatly than the woman did.

Cara slid down the side of the ship, her feet landing softly in a bed of shining platinum grass. She walked cautiously across the grass toward the two figures, TARDIS, and tree. They watched her approach. The woman took a few steps backward, almost back into herself. The Doctor didn't move, but he also started moving toward the tree. One of him spoke as both.

"Dodi, maybe you should get back in the TARDIS."

The woman spoke now, "But it's…it's _her_!"

"Dodi! Tissue paper!"

The woman nodded and split away from herself, one of her striding phantomlike toward the blue box. The other stood gazing back at the Doctor.

"Are you coming?" Cara recognized her former voice.

"Of course," the Doctor said and didn't say.

Then Cara was drawn into the shadow of her own phantom. She was now indistinguishable from herself, and the Doctor from himself. The surroundings were as they were and as they had been.

The two Time Lords walked to the tree and entered it through a door in the bark.

As soon as they stepped inside, the double vision was reorganized. It remained, but it seemed as if that was the way things should be. And Cara found herself no longer in any sort of control over her destiny. The things she did were not merely her idea, they were also concretely set in time as things that would happen. Things that had happened already.

It unfolded as it had before.

Inside the tree was a much larger room than would have fit inside the tree trunk. It was a room that existed as a pocket in dimensions. Old technology, but effective enough. In the center of the room stood the culmination of centuries of efforts. The brainchild of many brilliant scientists and engineers. The thing that could unite the Time Lords as nothing else ever had. Many of the Elders in the Syndicate had respected, even feared it.

Cara felt a blend of awe and fear, herself, building inside her as she gazed at the object. It appeared at first unimpressive. The fear came from knowing what the kitchen-appliance-sized box was capable of. And also, possibly, from knowing who lurked in the farther reaches of the secret tree laboratory. He waited until the moment was right, for he could do nothing else.

The Doctor tried to walk ahead of Cara, but she blocked his way.

"Cara, you have to stop this!" he cried, "The Infinity Syndicate won't stop until they've destroyed themselves and the universe along with them!"

"But we can save Gallifrey!" Cara cried, "it's our only hope. The entire Dalek fleet is coming and normal Time Lords can't withstand an attack of that magnitude. The Daleks and the Time Lords will destroy each other unless we do something!"

"This isn't the way!" the Doctor yelled, "come with me. We'll find another way!"

"There is no other way," Cara growled, shaking her head.

The Doctor gasped at something behind her, "The Master!"

"Good to see you again," the Master crooned condescendingly in a voice as carefully manicured as his handlebar mustache, "What do you think of my new look? Not too ostentatious for the future ruler of Gallifrey, do you think?"

"CO-ruler," Cara reminded him with a dark smile. The Master regarded her with a momentary look of confusion before nodding, "Of course, you're right, my dear. And thank you for bringing me this…" He paused to gesture at the Doctor with a short black cane, "…gift."

"What?" the Doctor glared at Cara.

The Time Lady just winked at him and sidled to the Master, "Everything is in place. It is about to begin."

"Well," the Master favored her with a smile, "we mustn't waste time."

The Doctor moved toward the two, "Cara…"

"Oh, do have a seat, Doctor," the Master waved a hand dismissively. A chair forcefully scraped across the floor toward the other man, "you are about to be a witness to a truly historic event. And isn't that something you enjoy?"

The Doctor sat, but ignored the Master's taunting, "Cara, please. Gallifrey is going to fall and there's nothing you can do about it. If you come with me, you'll be safe."

"Safe?" Cara whispered.

"This isn't you," the Doctor gestured to the room, "not really. You've only forgotten."

"No, Doctor," everything seemed to stop as Cara spoke those words. Even the Master was silent. Tossing her hair, Cara stared at the Doctor, "I've remembered." She flung out an arm, sending him flying, chair and all, out the door. The Master's laughter rang in his ears as he banged on the bark door, now closed tightly. He noticed the multitudes of flying specks appearing in the sky alongside dusk's first hints of starlight. Silver leaves fluttered down past him, flashing scarlet in the light and swirling chaotically in the wind. The Doctor sighed. It was no use trying to alter a past as horrifically frayed as this one. Yet still he took out his sonic screwdriver and worked at the door.

From the TARDIS, Dodi watched him. There was much about the situation that she did not understand, but she did understand that it had something to do with a small piece of metal that she'd taken from the Doctor's pocket. She fingered it as it nestled in her palm. So smooth and cool to the touch. Why had he seemed so afraid of it? It was just a ring. She held it up to inspect it. Yes, just a simple ring.

A tickle rose in her throat, sneaking into her nose. Not thinking, she covered the sneeze with her hand. The ring flew from her fingers, dropping toward the TARDIS floor. Before it hit the grating though, it vanished as if an invisible hand reached through a pocket in the air and snatched it inside.

Dodi stared at the empty air that the ring had vanished into. She swallowed hard and wondered if she'd just destroyed the universe.


	4. Chapter 4

The Master paced back and forth across the room, muttering to himself while Cara worked on the final calibrations of the machine. Cara cast a wary eye in his direction and he stopped.

"Well?" he demanded, "what is it? Is it ready?" His beady dark eyes glimmered intensely. Cara wondered how his face always managed to appear to be lit from below. She took more time than was necessary before answering him. The build of anticipation in his face was worth the glare he sent her.

"Well, is it?" he exploded.

Cara regarded him coolly, "Don't rush me. We'll only have one chance at this."

"Get on it then!" the Master growled, smacking his hand somewhat absently with his cane.

Cara sent him a glare just long enough to demonstrate that she did not appreciate being ordered around, "Too bad you skipped class the decade we were finishing the design on this, it would have gone quicker with two."

The Master returned her glare and turned back to pacing.

The tree exterior shook, rattling the laboratory. Neither Time Lord paid it any attention. The end was here at last, and they were prepared.

Working efficiently, Cara entered the last protocols into the machine and stood back.

"Is it ready now?" the Master stared at her with wide-open, desperate eyes. He felt it too, the wall that was approaching. He knew, as Cara did, that time had run out for the Time Lords.

Cara stepped back again, knowing the Master could barely contain his excitement. She was right. He dove for the controls, pausing to savor the moment, but only just. With a flourish, he jammed his hand down onto the ignition key and flipped it. The two watched, satisfied, as the box began to emit a nearly subsonic pulsing hum as well as a strobing white light.

The Master smiled, leaning against the box, celebrating his victory. His entire body tensed up and the smile left his face as the box's pulses sped up, beyond the range where they were distinguishable from a solid buzz. The Master tried to pull away from the machine, but he found that his hand was fuzed to the ignition key.

"What did you do to it?" he hissed at Cara as she watched him writhe stiffly.

"What it was always intended to do," Cara replied quietly, staring at him with an icy expression, "how does it feel to be so full of power, Master?"

"Don't mock me, you child!" he gasped, trying to lock his gaze on her. She felt his bewildered mind sending flailing probes, bumping into hers now and then but not able to connect. Again and again, he tried to retaliate for the situation that he felt Cara had put him in. But she had given up her focus on him and now turned inward, strengthening her mental barrier against the onslaught the machine was pumping into the room.

The bark door swung open, breaking the concentration of both Cara and the Master. The Doctor stood in the doorway, evaluating the situation with a glance. He tried to step into the room, but was met with invisible resistance.

Cara saw the Doctor trying to get in and called to him, "It's going to overload, get out of here!"

"You too!" the Doctor yelled back.

Cara looked at the Master, who was wrestling with the box to get his hand free. She moved toward the Master, "Come on!"

He gave her a seedy squint and tore at the machine with his fingernails, "Can't you see I'm trying, you fool!"

Cara reached to the ornamental dagger hanging at her side and took it from its sheath. She approached the Master, "Let me help you."

"You! You _did_ this to me!" the Master eyed the blade, "I don't need you carving me up. For what, to _save_ me? You want to kill me!"

"I want to destroy the machine," Cara growled, "killing you was never the plan."

"I don't want your help at any rate!" the Master stopped struggling to push Cara back with his mind. She pushed back and began to hammer the machine with the dagger.

"Cara! Master!" the Doctor cried, powerless to help behind the field of concentrated energy, "It's getting crowded out here! Come on!"

Cara knew this. She could hear the sounds of the battle raging, the screams and blasts of her sworn enemy. Inside the lab, her not-so-sworn enemy wasn't being much quieter. He howled and clawed and fought as the machine's hum rose to a high, squealing pitch. The light got even brighter, becoming a blinding flare in the center of the room. Cara grabbed the Master and pulled in an attempt to free him.

"Let go of me!" the Master threw his considerable weight roughly and shoved Cara at the same time. She crashed sideways, colliding with the damaged machine controls. Shock showed in her eyes as she pushed away from the machine. She looked down, finding that the side of her clothing that had connected with the controls was dark and red and wet. She stared at it with fascination, as if she had suddenly realized something amusing.

The Master was too busy examining his newly-freed hand to notice at first. The next thing he noticed was the Doctor's anguished expression. And only then did the Master turn to see what had become of Cara. Her eyes met the Doctor's. He nodded sadly and banged the doorway frame with his fist. The Master backed away from both of them, having noticed that his freed hand was missing its fingertips. The fingers seemed to dissolve into the air. His mouth opened in a silent scream and he slid to the floor.

Cara held her hands in front of her, looking at them dully. Between the patches of drying blood, her skin sparked and shimmered with sky-orange flame. Her mouth opened slightly, but she couldn't think of anything to say. Beside her, the brilliantly white flaring box threw showers of white and blue pinpoints everywhere, the squeal turning to a brief roar. Then it went completely silent as Cara stood transfixed. The light redirected and shot upward.

The second that the machine channeled the energy out, the Doctor dashed into the room. He grabbed Cara and helped her quickly to the door.

"Hold on," he whispered to her, "we have to get you away from this machine before it overloads or you'll forget all over again."

"Forget…" Cara mumbled, "I wish I could."

The Doctor brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face, "I'm sorry." Together, they stumbled out of the tree lab and back toward the Doctor's TARDIS.

The Master didn't even notice them leave. He did, however, take a metal object out of his pocket, even as his entire arm was vanishing.

"I'll be back, Doctor," the Master muttered without a shred of sanity, "I'll be in the last place you look."

He took a final breath, closed his eyes, and opened the fob watch with his one remaining hand as his other arm vanished completely.


	5. Chapter 5

"Just a few more steps!" the Doctor urged Cara on as they approached his ship. Dodi watched, horrified, from the TARDIS door.

"Look out!" she cried as a Dalek dropped into the Doctor and Cara's path. But the Dalek didn't stay long. It was quickly swept aside by Cara's mind as she struggled to stay on her feet. The Dalek tumbled violently down the hill, screaming in protest and firing randomly. Cara and the Doctor fell into the TARDIS. Dodi slammed the door shut and the Doctor immediately primed the ship for launch. Cara flopped onto the bench, groaning as Dodi approached Cara cautiously.

"Better not get too close," Cara advised hoarsely, "it's started."

Dodi stepped back as the Doctor cast a worried glance at his Time Lord companion.

Cara managed a weak smile at him, "it's been fun, Doctor."

Dodi blinked between the two aliens, "aren't you, isn't she…coming back?"

"No way to tell for sure," the Doctor's voice was barely a whisper, "Dying in a time lock next to an overloading telepathic emitter is uncharted territory."

The TARDIS faded into nothingness, an entire swarm of Daleks taking its place on the hilltop. Within moments, they had reduced the tree, the hill, and most of the wrecked bronze ship to ashes.

The almost intangible swaying of the TARDIS as it hovered safely in the vortex soothed Cara. She gazed up at the ceiling of the TARDIS, admiring the structural arches and sweep of the walls. It was almost a startling thought that she was actually content. At peace with herself. Finally, she knew the answer to the riddles. She knew herself, knew who she was, and that was enough. The double-image that had plagued her vision since she'd landed on Gallifrey faded. Now she was one.

"Cara?" the somehow familiar female voice whimpered, wobbling toward her. A memory surfaced, clear and strong, but not overwhelming. Another life, another time, another ship like this one, another goodbye.

"Full circle," Cara mumbled.

"What?" Dodi asked.

Something clattered to the floor and pinged through the grating.

"Nothing happens," Cara whispered, "without a reason."

"Dodi, get back!" the Doctor warned the woman again, seeing the fiery glow blazing at Cara's fingertips. Dodi stepped back and stood with him, wondering at the wetness flickering in his gaze.

The glow from Cara's hands shot out her feet and head, engulfing her body in flame. The TARDIS sparked and shuddered, making banging sounds in the distance, but managing to hold itself mostly together in the control room where its passengers were.

For agonizingly long moments, Cara glowed stiffly. Every part of her felt as if it were on fire and being frozen off simultaneously. It had been the same the other times, too. Dying never got any easier.

Everything swirled around, shifting. Sounds became sharp and then muffled and then sharp again. The air smelled peculiarly like burnt bananas, then like nothing, then like bananas again. Colors danced, lights flashed, and the psychic energy of the living being surrounding Cara tingled through her. It seemed to be guiding her somewhere. A cloud of hope offered her an ironic hand and she took it without hesitation. It led her down a path lined with piles of silver leaves, toward a quiet glen. There stood the twisting chrome figure-eight emblem of her nightmares. But somehow, this time, it didn't seem so large.

The Doctor and Dodi leapt back in surprise as a fountain of flame came from Cara. It turned into a column, funneling down through the TARDIS grating and into the darkness under the floor. It twisted and fought like a wild thing, until at last it was spent. All was quiet and dark. For uncounted minutes, no one moved or spoke.

"Dodi?"

"What?"

"What are you doing here?"

Cara stood up and gave the other woman a questioning glance.

"Uh," Dodi blinked and stared.

"Uh oh," Cara tilted her head, "is it that bad? Be honest. After all, I've got to live an entire life looking like this, I should know what I'm up against."

"Uh," Dodi said again. The Doctor was already next to Cara, looking down at her. He scooped her into a hug and released her, grinning from ear to ear.

"You're okay!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah," Cara hugged him back and inspected her hands, "but am I okay and ugly? I mean, do I still have a nose?"

"Yes!" Dodi squeaked triumphantly.

Cara breathed a sigh of relief and fingered her hair, "what color is this? Brown? Blonde? Bronde? Is bronde a word?" She frowned, "funny, it looks exactly the same as my _old_ hair."

"Cara," the Doctor started gently.

"What?"

"It _is_ your old hair."

She raised her eyebrows, thinking about this, "oh."

All three looked down.

Below the floor, a small speck of silver glimmered in the green glow of the TARDIS.

Dodi started giggling uncontrollably, and the two Time Lords joined in, though none of them really knew what it was that was so funny.


	6. Chapter 6

Cara sat on her bed, in the TARDIS, fingering her bedspread. She had been so happy to find it in the eccentric collection of odds and ends in the Doctor's ship. It was a quilt made of brown and white floral fabric sewn in starburst patterns, and it was just the right thickness to keep her warm but not too thick to get too hot. As she looked around the room, many such thoughts occurred to her. None of them seemed of much consequence, but she thought them anyway, perhaps as a reprieve from her deeper ruminations.

Cara stood and looked at herself in the mirror hanging on the wall. The mirror's frame was tastefully ornate and inlaid with gold-flecked green stones. The mirror itself was just like any mirror she might have found on Earth. It was glassy, silvery, and reflected her seventh face back at her accurately. She looked at her seventh face and decided that she did not like the troubled expression in her eyes.

The Doctor stepped into view just outside Cara's slightly-open door. He spoke to her without looking in, "Just thought I'd let you know, we're almost to Earth, Dodi's getting ready to disembark…" He trailed off awkwardly.

"Okay," Cara replied too quickly. She stopped and then tried to start again, settling on a sigh.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked, in a voice heavy with premonition.

"Everything's fine," Cara spoke softly, "just…how can…" She stopped, "Everything's fine." She stood and went to the door, opening it. The Doctor's blue eyes caught her golden brown ones for a moment before she looked down at her hands.

"Cara," the Doctor spoke slowly, "when everything is fine, one generally isn't avoiding looking at their friends."

"Are w…" Cara started, then stopped again.

"And usually, you can finish sentences."

Normally, Cara would have giggled, but she just tried to find her way back to the Doctor's face. Still not meeting his gaze, she shook her head, "How can…we…be the same again."

"You look the same to me," the Doctor observed.

"That's not what I meant."

"I know," the Doctor reached for her shoulders to draw her close, but she resisted. He stopped, "What's done is done. It's behind us, as it always was. The only difference is that now you know about it. But it's over."

Cara swallowed, "I watched my planet burn. Over and over and it was my doing and I just watched. Doing nothing. Feeling nothing. Not sorrow, not fear, not regret, not anger, nothing. Just a vast abyss that waited to consume me. And that emptiness, that wasn't a memory or a phantom, that was real and current and it happened to me. Seventh Cara. It's inside _me_. Even right now."

"It's inside all of us, to some degree," the Doctor said gently.

Cara nodded, "So is this what it is then, life? Chasing through the universe, exploring Everything to escape the Nothing we know is within?"

"No," the Doctor moved his hands to her elbows and clasped her firmly, "It's about learning and seeing and experiencing. It's about making a difference and finding that there's more than nothing inside. So much more. There's so very much to see and learn about, and I'm going to find it! And I would like very much if you'd join me."

Cara finally looked into his face, a dry smile spreading across her face, "Where else am I going to go?"

"Well," the Doctor looked sideways, a sparkle in his eye. He took her hand, "Oh, it is your choice. Come with me."

Curious, Cara let him drag her through the curved TARDIS hallways. They passed several doorways and a small blue rubber ball flung itself bouncing over their shoulders on its way through the ship. Finally, the Doctor stopped at one doorway.

Cara's hearts skipped beats. The door was blue and said "Police Box" above it. She blinked, "Um…"

The Doctor grinned and flung open the door, revealing a silver-and-blue TARDIS control room. It was battle-damaged and inoperative, but most certainly Cara's TARDIS.

The woman's face lit up with delight at seeing her ship, "But…how?"

"It seems my TARDIS wasn't about to leave yours to be stuck in that time lock for the rest of eternity," the Doctor shrugged, "she grabbed ahold and towed your ship out with us. Of course, she may have had a teeny tiny bit of help…"

Cara stood in the doorway of her TARDIS, sensing a slight pull at her mind as the healing ship's telepathic circuits weakly called to her. She stroked the doorjamb and thought soothing things toward it.

"The universe is yours again," the Doctor murmured into her ear, "if you want it."

Biting her lip, Cara's hand slid from the doorjamb, "is that…a good idea?"

"I've checked it out, all the troublesome components were completely destroyed," the Doctor reassured her, "she'll be at full strength again, evil-free, probably by the time we reach Earth." At Cara's silence, the Doctor added, "of course, if you wanted, you could leave right now. All the primary systems are working."

"Right…now?" Cara gasped in wonder.

"Sure," the Doctor nodded, "so long as you promise not to crash through any more time locks."

Cara smiled and stepped one foot over the threshold. She stumbled slightly, overcompensating for the usual shift in gravity when stepping into a TARDIS from a planet. Straightening, she turned back to look at the Doctor. He nodded encouragingly, smiling, a bittersweet understanding in his eyes. He, too, knew the call of the open sky.

Cara smiled at him, a real, genuine smile that touched every part of her face. She leaned forward, into her ship.

And stepped back into the hallway, pulling the door closed.

"I think my ship deserves some R and R," Cara said by means of explanation. She turned to gaze at the Doctor, "I'm getting too old to be training in new companions all the time anyway. You already know the ropes. Well, most of them." She winked.

"Ooh," the Doctor mock glared at her and grinned back, "so you're coming with me?"

"I think I just said I was," Cara replied.

"No, I meant to the control room, I think we've arrived at Earth," the Doctor coughed.

"Oh, well, yes," Cara giggled and slipped her arm through his, "there's no one I'd rather go to the control room with."

"Good," the Doctor replied, pulling her close for a moment before leading her back down the hallway toward the universe.


End file.
